SoftBank confirms Sprint acquisition

Japanese telco SoftBank has confirmed the acquisition of Sprint and it appears that the US telco will set it back about $20.1 billion.

Apparently, both SoftBank and Sprint are ranked third in their own markets and the new company will look to change that. The deal is expected to be done and dusted in 2013, making the new Sprint a force to be reckoned with and have the third largest mobile service in the world.

According to the deal, SoftBank will buy $8 billion worth of new shares and $12.1 billion in existing ones. This will earn it 70 percent stake in Sprint.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse described the deal as “transformative transaction” for the company. He also said that Sprint’s “management team is excited to work with SoftBank to learn from their successful deployment of LTE in Japan as we build out our advanced LTE network, improve the customer experience and continue the turnaround of our operations.”